Human Rights Watch have issued a statement calling on Brazil’s judiciary and other institutions to resist any attempt to undermine human rights, the rule of law, and democracy after the election of Bolsonaro, whom they call a “pro-torture, openly bigoted member of Congress”.

“Brazil has independent judges, committed prosecutors and public defenders, courageous reporters, and a vibrant civil society,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “We will join them in standing up against any attempt to erode the democratic rights and institutions that Brazil has painstakingly built in the last three decades,”

Bolsonaro defeated the Workers Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, after a campaign tarred by political violence. Many of the victims were lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, women, and Afro-Brazilians.

More than 140 reporters covering the elections were harassed, threatened, and in some cases physically attacked, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) found.

In his decades-long career in Congress and as a presidential candidate, Bolsonaro has endorsed abusive practices that undermine the rule of law, defended the country’s dictatorship, and has been a vocal proponent of bigotry, Human Rights Watch said.

During the presidential campaign, Bolsonaro announced that he would not accept the election results unless he won. He said that “we will shoot” Workers Party supporters and told “leftist outlaws” to either leave the country or find themselves in jail. He said he would like to double the size of the Supreme Courtso that he can pack it with people who share his views. Bolsonaro´s running mate, the retired army general Antônio Hamilton Mourão, raised the possibility of a “self-coup” by the president with support from the armed forces in case of “anarchy.”

Bolsonaro has endorsed abusive practices that undermine the rule of law. He has said Brazil´s military dictatorship (1964-1985) made a mistake by torturing people when it should have killed them, repeatedly referred to one of the worst torturers of the dictatorship as a “hero,” and said police should have “carte blanche” to kill criminal suspects.

“Human Rights Watch will closely monitor the rhetoric and actions of the Bolsonaro government,” Vivanco said. “We will continue doing the rigorous, independent research and advocacy we have carried out in Brazil for the last decades in defense of human rights for all Brazilians, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, political beliefs, or religion.”

The outgoing president of Mexico has tweeted his congratulations to Bolsonaro.

Enrique Peña Nieto wrote: “In the name of the people and the government of Mexico, I congratulate Jair Bolsonaro for his election as president of the Federal Republic of Brazil, on an exemplary day which reflects the strength of democracy in that country.”

In his televised acceptance speech, Bolsonaro vowed to carry out his campaign promises to stamp out corruption after years of leftist rule.

“We cannot continue flirting with communism ... We are going to change the destiny of Brazil,” Bolsonaro said.

Bolsonaro, who was filmed praying with his wife and team before appearing on television to deliver his speech, also spoke a lot about God and freedom, which he called a “fundamental principle”. He said “I’ve never been alone, I’ve always felt the power of God.”

Bolsonaro has just delivered a televised speech, we’ll have some quotes from it soon. We’re not sure if there will be a larger, rally-style speech later tonight, but this style of speaking to the public, in a dull televised speech, is typical of Bolsonaro.

In his own words: what Bolsonaro has said

“The scum of the earth is showing up in Brazil, as if we didn’t have enough problems of our own to sort out.” (September 2015)

On gay people:

“I would be incapable of loving a homosexual son. I’m not going to be a hypocrite: I’d rather my son died in an accident than showed up with some bloke with a moustache.” (June 2011)

“I won’t fight it or discriminate, but if I see two men kissing each other in the street, I’ll whack them.” (October 2002)

“We Brazilians don’t like homosexuals.” (2013)

“Are [gays] demigods? ... Just because someone has sex with his excretory organ, it doesn’t make him better than anyone else.” (February 2014)

On democracy and dictatorship:

“You’ll never change anything in this country through voting. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, things will only change when a civil war kicks off and we do the work the [military] regime didn’t. Killing some 30,000 …. Killing them! If a couple of innocents die, that’s OK.” (May 1999)

“I am in favour of a dictatorship … We will never resolve serious national problems with this irresponsible democracy.” (1992)

On human rights:

“I’m in favour of torture.” (May 1999)

“Brazilian prisons are wonderful places ... they’re places for people to pay for their sins, not live the life of Reilly in a spa. Those who rape, kidnap and kill are going there to suffer, not attend a holiday camp.” (February 2014)

“Are we obliged to give these bastards [criminals] a good life? They spend their whole lives fucking us and those of us who work have to give them a good life in prison. They should fuck themselves, full stop. That’s it, dammit!” (February 2014)

On women:

“I’ve got five kids. Four of them are men, but on the fifth I had a moment of weakness and it came out a woman.” (April, 2017)

“I said I wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it.” (December 2014, to politician Maria do Rosário, repeating a comment first made to her in 2003).

On race:

“I don’t run the risk [of seeing my children date black women or being gay]. My children were very well raised.” (March 2011)

“I went to visit a quilombo [a settlement founded by the descendants of runaway slaves]. The lightest afrodescendant there weighed seven arrobas [more than 100kg]. They don’t do anything. I don’t think they’re even good for procreating anymore.” (April 2017)

Full story: 'The extreme right has conquered Brazil'

Jair Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old former paratrooper who built his campaign around pledges to crush corruption, crime and a supposed communist threat, secured 55.7% of the votes after 88% were counted and was therefore elected Brazil’s next president, electoral authorities said on Sunday.

Bolsonaro’s exact lead over his rival, Fernando Haddad, will be clear when the full official election results are announced shortly.

News of the exit poll result sent Bolsonaro devotees outside his beachfront home in western Rio de Janeiro into ecstasy and drew huge crowds out onto Avenida Paulista, one of São Paulo’s most important boulevards, where they sang Brazil’s national anthem and set off fireworks.

But Bolsonaro’s triumph will leave many millions of progressive Brazilians profoundly disturbed and fearful of the intolerant, right-wing tack their country is now likely to take.

Over nearly three decades in politics, he has become notorious for his hostility to black, gay and indigenous Brazilians and to women as well as for his admiration of dictatorial regimes, including the one that ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985.

“The extreme right has conquered Brazil,” Celso Rocha de Barros, a Brazilian political columnist, told the election night webcast of Piauí magazine. “Brazil now has a more extremist president than any democratic country in the world ... we don’t know what is going to happen.”

Brazilians on Sunday were weighing their hunger for radical change against fears that Bolsonaro, the presidential front-runner, could threaten democracy as they cast ballots in the culmination of a bitter campaign that split many families and was frequently marred by violence. Photograph: Buda Mendes/Getty Images

Supporters of presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro sing the national anthem outside his residence in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Silvia Izquierdo/AP

Supporters of Brazilian Presidential candidate for Workers’ Party Fernando Haddad react after the first official results of the election, at the Workers’ Party national headquarters in Sao Paulo. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

A Haddad supporter reacts after the first official results of the election. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images